know-everything

plural know-everythings · alternative know everything

1. Synonym of know-it-all.

   Why is the "know-everything" so afraid of the autonomy of others, and the "know-nothing" so afraid of his own autonomy?

   2001, Lucille Osterweil, Lifedance: Balancing the Needs of Self and Others, →ISBN, page 34

   3 more examples

   There is Mali, there is Guinea, you are about to say— but our loans to Mali and Guinea, my young know-everythings, are like fish to vultures; the stomach remains empty.

   1984, Dave Godfrey, The new ancestors, page 276

   Even with the best screening methods, the loud talkers, the silent ones, and the know-everythings still may show up, for the world is full of these.

   1998, Albert Blankenship, George Edward Breen, Alan Dutka, State of The Art Marketing Research, →ISBN, page 214

   There is the unthinking no and the thinking no, the negation spoken by the know-nothings, and the negation of the know-everythings.

   2010, Steven Dillon, The Solaris Effect: Art and Artifice in Contemporary American Film, →ISBN, page 141

   Synonyms: know-it-all

2. A highly knowledgeable person; expert.

   We were the know-everythings about the vast restaurant options in our area.

   2013 November 19, gtr, “Do you scope out a restaurant?”, in rec.food.cooking (Usenet)

   3 more examples

   Lots of people are like that in our business, trying to act like complete know-everythings.

   1981, Lodging Hospitality: LH. - Volume 37, page 116

   In the nineteenth century, Twain was the know-everything traveller, who made his homeland seem doubly attractive by so engagingly representing its energy and creativity.

   1993, The New Yorker, page 85

   The guard is being instructed by indoor guard know-everythings and will # about 22 or so

   1995 March 24, Tessa Timney, “New MD junior corps”, in rec.arts.marching.drumcorps (Usenet)